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The Dornish-Triarchy War
The Dornish-Triarchy War was a major series of conflicts between the Triarchy of the Three Daughters, Dorne and the Stormlands. Although all involved suffered heavy losses, it is widely considered a resounding victory for the Triarchy, the Archon of which has greatly profitted since through tariffs and taxes imposed after the signing of the Pact. Stepping Stones to War (381 AC) The Archon of the Triarchy had long seen the growing Dornish presence in the Stepstones as a deliberate effort to undermine the control of the Three Daughters in their time of united strength. The island of Dustspear was seen as an inevitability when a Dornish outpost was built from timber and stone atop the isle’s peak, but when ships clad in the colours of Martell, Santagar and Toland were spotted further east still - on the shores of Bloodstone, Grey Gallows and the Veiled Isle - the Archon would send forth calls to action. He convened with Merchant Guilds and convincing them to invest men and ships to protect their interests at home and further afield. To the cities of Volantis and Pentos he sent men to hire sellsails and mercenaries, and others still to the distant shores of the Basilisk Isles to discuss contracts with corsair-captains and their crews. Half a year passed as the Triarchy’s fleet swelled in the ports on the far side of the isle of Lys - far from the eyes of the Dornish for whom the ships were intended. All the while, Triarchy spies were seeded into the populations that resided among the islands of the Stepstones to gather information and scout out bays and coves in which the Dornish might seek shelter should an army and fleet come hunting for them. One would come soon enough. Battle of Grey Gallows The first stone was not thrown alone - the Triarchy struck at the isles of Grey Gallows, Bloodstone and the Veiled Isle in unison, sailing in the wake of a storm to hide their approach. In Gallowstown, twenty warships captained by the enigmatic Amber Aeryros, landing raiders once intended for the fighting pits of Slaver’s Bay in all manner of armour and motley. The subsistence farmers and fisherfolk that had toiled upon the isle for generations were spared, but all Westerosi were put to sword and blade. Despite the quick strike, the cut was not as precise as Aeryros and his Archon had hoped. Among the pitfighters purchased upon Barter Beach were a number of Rhoynish stock - their appearance not dissimilar from the Dornish that they cut down with sword and axe and spear. One among them, Oberyn the Spotted, so named for his full-bodied tattoos in the style of the dappled panthers of the Summer Isles was felled by a short spear thrown by friend instead of foe shortly after the skirmish began. Fighting broke out among the pitfighters before order was finally restored several bloody minutes later by which time the remaining defenders had been also been defeated through the efforts of the Guild of the Blue. Ser Perros of the Brimstone, the self-appointed castellan of Gallowstown was among the slain. His body joined the other Dornish in the pyre that would be used to set the outpost ablaze before the Archon’s ships continued further west, bound for Dustspear where they would regroup for the next stage in the Triarchy’s long-considered plans. Bloodying of Bloodstone The Bloodying of Bloodstone was, in truth, anything but as bloody as the name given by the singers suggested. Fishermen with Triarchy silver lining their pockets were deposited along the eastern shore of the isle and worked quickly to sabotage the sails and hulls of the ships that had transported the Dornish to the isle. As other purses of silver and gold continued to swap hands, washerwomen and guardsman and bakers alike within the Dornish outpost were replaced, allowing the wooden fort to be taken overnight. Those captives found to possess useful skills - none more so that the carpenters, masons and blacksmiths that had helped the construction of the fort - were given their lives to work as freemen within the cities of Tyrosh, Myr and Lys. Those that resisted or could otherwise offer little were instead given the corsair-captains to take back with them to the Basilisk Isles, as had been arranged in the discussions moons prior. Battle for the Veiled Isle An islander named Maros was transformed overnight by his efforts during the Battle for the Veiled Isle. Having lived upon the fog-laden island for much of his life he had survived by fishing for crabs and lobsters in the hidden coves and climbing the sheer and damp cliff faces hunting for gull eggs. Both proved to be of great use to the Archon and his men as they assaulted the residents under the cover of thick mists, guided by Maros’ maps. The Dornish had settled within a ruined stronghold within a marsh at the heart of the isle with the intention of training men within the difficult topography. A skirmish force was set upon sellswords as they sparred in pairs in light armour - save they sink into the bog. Blunted steel and leather served them poorly against sharp mercenary blades in a short brutal slaughter just out of sight of the stone construction they had called home. Clad in the armour taken from the dead, the sellswords marched into the outpost with their battle-ready steel in hand and captured all that remained within. As had been the case at Bloodstone, the majority would be sold into slavery at the hands of pirates sailing alongside the Archon. For facilitating the secretive strike against the residents, Maros was showered in wealth by the Triarchy forces. Given dominion over the isle, he was also gifted a warship in place of his fishing skiff, and a trio of bedslaves trained by the Yunkai’i in the Halls of Silk. The fisherman-turned-captain would die less than a year later after drinking an entire barrel of Arbor Gold - if the tales can be believed. Other more unsavoury claims suggest that he was instead poisoned, or drowned in said barrel, both stories telling it was at the behest of a Guildmaster that desired the Veiled Isle for himself. Battle of Ash and Dust Where the attacks on the settlements of Grey Gallows, Bloodstone and the Veiled Isle had been deliberately covert to prevent the Dornish from realising how much hold they had lost upon the Stepstones, the approach of the Archon’s fleet towards Dustspear was anything but. At noon the Dornish sighted the brightly-coloured fleet descending upon the isle they found themselves stationed upon. Ser Walter Dalt, castellan and commander of the outpost commanded two ships to be sent forth - one towards the Archon’s flagship, another west upon fast oars in hope of sending news to Planky Town and Sunspear. Both burned, their crew and cargo strewn into the waves. The contrasts with the prior attacks continued. Ports were razed instead of simply being seized. Fisherfolk and farmers were not spared from the axe, nor were slaves taken - only lives. Falling back to the outpost built upon the steep hill on the western aspect of the isle, Ser Walter and his men stood their ground for much of the day, until finally night descended on the battlefield. With a laugh, the Archon ordered the wooden palisades to be set ablaze. A recent storm had soaked the timber, but once doused in oils and pitch they burned all the same, as did those few that still sought to stand strong behind them. As the flames spread the inner keep soon succumbed too, crowning the peak of the isle in a beacon of light and heat - a resolute warning to the Dornish that the Triarchy had come for blood. The Bleeding Sands (381-382AC) Seizure of Planky Town The peak of Dustspear still glowed when the Archon’s fleet descending upon the eastern coast of Dorne. While the heavier and larger warships lingered to blockade Planky Town from the sea, galleys and longships of the Salt Sons and Red Hands drove forth into the Greenblood. Hundreds of smaller fishing skiffs were captured, and rafted together to form a great bridge across the river - providing both a quick and easy means for Triarchy troops to cross, but also ensure complete control of the throughflow up and down the estuary. On account for the nature of Planky Town, the Archon commanded that the harbour would not be put to the torch as the outposts upon the Stepstones had, but rather simply captured. With sword and axe and spear the huge sellsword force did as commanded, quelling pockets of resistance where they found them among the barges and cogs - by sunset the harbour had fallen. With a force tens of thousands strong now stationed at the mouth of the river that served as the lifeblood for most of Dorne, the Archon found his dreams of conquest falling into place. Harrying of Sunspear With Planky Town within his grasp, the Archon split his strength in into five. Three of the five groups would remain within the harbour for the time being - one to fortify, another to hunt down the last that stood against him in the immediate area, and the final to assist in the arrival of the remaining invasion force. The other two he sent north, with plans readied and steel at their belts. To one of his commanders, Daros, called the Reaper, he gave the task of harrying the Dornish capital. With sword and scythe Daros and his men cut down the crops that grew heartily along the banks of the Greenblood, and set torch to the groves and bushes from which the Dornish harvested a wealth of olives, peppers, lemons and blood oranges - although not before sending in an army of slaves to harvest them clean. It is said that the cloying scent and the burning wood and unripe fruits they rejected could be smelled in even the Disputed Lands as the smoke and ash was carried upon the winds. Every spring and well they fell upon were poisoned, every desert oasis blackened and befouled. The lands around Sunspear and the Shadow City became all the more inhospitable through the Reaper’s actions. Then they departed, riding back to Planky Town. Whilst all eyes were on Daros and his actions, the fifth finger upon the hand of the Archon had stolen into the Water Gardens. Finding the guards to be a paltry force compared to their own, the retreat of House Martell was quickly claimed and with it all the heirs and fosters of several Dornish Noble Houses that had been sent there - Dalt, Allyrion, Vaith, Qorgyle, Toland and Dayne most notable among them. Some surrendered meekly, crying for their parents and friends, others too young to understand simply followed as the other Dornish children did. Not all proved to be so easily placated however, the sellswords discovered, when a young Scion of House Dayne cut down a pair of Brazen Titans before being disarmed and bound. The Greenblood Ablaze Inspired by the mix-up at Grey Gallows, the Archon commanded that all pitfighters and sellswords of Rhoynar heritage be brought to him. Captained by the Commander of the Orphans of Ny Sar, his force - dubbed the Orphan-Makers of the Greenblood were sent up the eponymous river to act as scouts, slipping in and out of the nomadic Orphans as they did so to save rousing suspicion. Wherever they passed, scouting the lands for useful outposts, stretches of crops and other supplies, the Triarchy galleys soon followed, sacking villages and sending populations back across the Narrow Sea to be sold into slavery and plundering supplies to feed and fund those that plundered. From the Summer Sea to Godsgrace, the Greenblood burned. The Sack of Godsgrace Reaching the stronghold of House Allyrion and finding that even their narrow-hulled galleys could travel little further up what remained of the Greenblood, the Triarchy’s troops landed to quickly surround the castle, demanding surrender from those within. Even when the young scions taken captive at the Water Gardens were presented before the gates, the castellan did not relent in his refusal, the tall walls and gate-doors as still as he. The hand of a baseborn son sired by one of his blood was launched over the walls a few minutes after the castellan called an end to the negotiations, the flesh pinned with a note that more would follow each day that surrender was not offered. There would no siege however, for that very night Daros the Reaper and his captains would scale the walls under the cover of a sandstorm that obscured the sight of those defenders upon them. As a red sky heralded the arrival of the morning, the gates were open, the castle now garrisoned by the men of the Archon. The Siege of Lemonwood The castellan of Lemonwood would follow a different path from his countrymen to the west as the hostages were brought before the gates, agreeing to yield in exchange for their lives, and those within the castle. Agreement was met on such terms, although Lemonwood would not be exchanged bloodlessly. Ser Walter Dalt, the heir to the castle had been a popular figure among the residents of Lemonwood. His fall during the Battle of Ash and Dust a few moons prior still stirred a heat within the blood of the Master-at-Arms and several others, a heat that grew greater still in the warmth of the midday sun. Feigning surrender, some three dozen men sallied forth from the gates at their opened, cutting down near twice their number before finally being overwhelmed and slain. Declaring him complicit in the deceit, Ser Tristifer Dalt, younger brother to Ser Walter and the new heir to Lemonwood was also among those that would be left decorating the castle walls when the colours of the Triarchy were raised high above them. Those men that surrendered were transported by ship to Lys, where they would be treated as per their station until the war’s end. The Battle for the Tor United against a foreign foe, Marcher Lords and the Lords of the Boneway had joined their numbers at Skyreach, the seat of House Fowler, before marching east. By their reckoning, the key to the Triarchy’s attempted control over Dorne would be to hold at Yronwood, but to do so they would first have to pass the Jordaynes and their seat at the Tor. Given his seemed lust thus far, it seemed unlikely that the Archon would not try and take the castle. It was thus for the Tor that they travelled. The Triarchy force that they fell upon sieging the seat of House Jordayne was larger than their own, more recently bloodied by battle and glory, but nonetheless the commands of Lords Dondarrion, Foote and Wyl would deliver a Westerosi victory nonetheless. Thus far the Essosi had won through surprise, coercion and careful planning. In an open battle upon territory foreign to them and harried from the sands around them and the walls against which they stood alike, they found death and defeat. Several smaller sellsword companies broke, fleeing back towards Godsgrace - one of their number, a company known as the Silver Hoods, would never reappear from the sands - whereas the majority of the Triarchy troops were instead relieved by means of a Tyroshi fleet within the Sea of Dorne that had been providing the would-be beleaguers as part of a supply chain. Despite delivering few casualties compared to the full strength landed by the Triarchy, the Marcher Lords and the Dornish had managed to break the momentum of the Archon’s forces, and in doing so regained some control over the lands they called home. Raid of Ghaston Grey Fleeing from their defeat in the lands around the Tor, some of the Tyroshi ships were forced west instead of east by a great squall, forcing them to land upon the shores of Ghaston Grey, the infamous prison isle used by the Dornish. Unprepared for such a force, the prison guards were quickly dispatched, leaving the Essosi free to strike the chains from the prisoners. As the winds settled, the fastest ships among those that had been forced off-course sailed south once more, releasing incarcerated onto the Dornish mainland to cause chaos and force the Dornish to send patrols to recapture them. Tall Grass, the seat of House Drinkwater would later fall foul to a man calling himself Gerold the Gentle, a serial rapist and murderer spared execution because it would be too merciful. He was to remain in chains upon Ghaston Grey for eight-and-forty years, the number of years he stole from those he butchered, after which he would be finally executed. Instead, following his escape at the hands of the Triarchy, he gathered a number of bandits to him, who climbed the walls of Tall Grass on a starless night. Murdering Lord Drinkwater and taking Lady Drinkwater for his own, he and his men vanished after setting the castle to the torch. Neither Gerold or Lady Drinkwater were seen again, despite extensive efforts to find them both. The Fall of Sunspear While the Archon’s reach had spread further and further east, mercenaries had continued to arrive via Planky Town, prompting the siege of Sunspear and the Shadow City to finally begin. As the poison planted by Daros had started to leech into the wells contained within their walls and with King Edmund distracted to the north, Prince Martell knew that death awaited them either way - through combat they had a chance to deliver victory even as the jaws started to close upon them. They would not bow, or bend, or break. For every brick the Triarchy claimed, they would bleed red and hot for it. More men died in the taking of Sunspear than in all other skirmishes, sieges and battles of the war up to that point, and near a score of minor sellsword companies would be extinguished upon the tips of Martell spears in the three days that the city would take to fall. When the Archon himself joined the fray, he suffered a wound that began to fester and would only be saved by the healing arts of the Alchemists of Lys, for the strike was surely poisoned as per the Dornish way. The Triarchy lost three famed commanders in the fighting - Prios the Proud with his beard dyed like yellow-gold, Aemon of the Lyseni family Vhassyl and Captain Roqo, an individual as skillful capable upon a ship as he was upon a horse. Nonetheless, the Archon’s intentions had been achieved. Sunspear had fallen and with it he had taken a number of other valuable hostages with which he intended to lay claim to the seats of the Dornish Lords. Siege of Ghost Hill Knowing that once news of Sunspear’s fall reached the rest of Westeros, it would surely garner their ire further, the Archon ordered that the remaining hostages not yet bartered for castles and towers were to be taken to the Water Gardens for safe keeping. On the journey however, they were freed by the daring actions of an Orphan of the Greenblood called Ylvar, and set in flight towards Ghost Hill. When he learned that Ylvar had exploited the same ploy by means of Rhoynish appearance as he had moons earlier, the Archon paid the Orphans of the Ny Sar the rest of their due, and dismisses them, sending them back to the city of Volantis. In his anger, the Archon sent forth his armies first to Ghost Hill in pursuit, but also along the river to sack and burn all remaining settlements of the Orphans. Once more the Greenblood was set ablaze, but they found little success at the seat of House Toland. With the hostages safely behind his walls, Lord Toland refused to surrender despite the mass of soldiers and ships that surrounded him and his family’s home. With the siege lines in place, the Archon sent a trio of ships back across the Narrow Sea to Myr, from which they returned a moon later bringing slaves from the Velvet Hills - slaves with experience working in mines and quarries alike. Finding the sandstone to be far softer than the stone of Andalos, they worked quickly, cutting off the water supply to the castle. Under sweltering heat with diminishing remaining stocks, the Dornish turned to milk and juice for hydration, only for the cows, goats and trees alike to falter in time too. Each day the Archon ordered great pails of water to be drawn up and gathered before the gates - any man that wished for it simply needed to open them and drink as much as he desired. For the best part of a week, the pails would be overturned come nightfall, the wastage sapped at greedily by the amber sands, before finally Lord Toland himself would come forth to quench his thirst. No-one within the castle was harmed as they surrendered, save the one that had stolen from the Archon. Ylvar was quickly found and placed upon a trader cog bound for Astapor - his fate to be gelded and turned into an Unsullied warrior. The Dyed Man’s Folly In the time that he had spent retrieving his hostages, the Dornish-Marcher army had continued their march east towards Sunspear - a city lightly defended while his strength lingered at Ghost Hill and along the Greenblood. Messengers stole out into the sands, seeking the scattered Triarchy armies to rally them back to the Dornish capital, but few arrived in time. In stark contrast to its taking moons prior, the city of Sunspear was reclaimed by the Dornish near bloodlessly. Not wanting to pay the price of death twice, the Archon issued a formal command of retreat - fleeing Dorne with the wealth stripped from Ghost Hill, Deep Well, Lemonwood, Godsgrace, Vaith, Salt Shore, Spottswood, Planky Town and the settlements along the Greenblood, before well as setting the Dornish harbour ablaze as the last ship departed. Also taken were those hostages still in his possession, kept under heavy guard until they arrived once again back in Tyrosh. A New Storm in the Stormlands (383-384AC) Sowing the Seeds Knowing that the Triarchy had bled for their attempted conquest of Dorne and eager for the return of the hostages taken during the fighting, the Dornish and Stormlander Lords offered terms of peace to the Archon, which were promptly refused. Believing that without the intervention of the Stormlords that occupied the Marches his conquest of Dorne would have been a success, the Archon’s gaze shifted further north, settling upon those that had defied him. Sallying from Tyrosh, were the fleet had settled after departing Dorne, the vast Triarchy navy sailed north, augmenting its strength once more with ships and swords from Myr, Pelosse and Anlos. Within a week or two they had started to make landfall along Cape Wrath, galleys filled with men hiding themselves within bays and coves, scouting the lands around them under cover of night to vanish again come day. Elsewhere they were less covert. The majority of the fleet continued further still, smashing the Estermont Fleet against the rocky shores of their island home, before regrouping again upon their approach to Tarth. As secret cave outposts started to fill with men, all eyes instead turned to the Sapphire Isle where the majority of the Stormlander fleet was stationed. The Battle of Rubies The Isle of Tarth is oft referred to as the Sapphire Isle for the blue of the waters that lap at the cliffs and shores, but the singers in the Free Cities still refer to the day that the Triarchy descended upon it as the Battle of Rubies, for it is said that the strait ran so red with blood that the name no longer was suitable. Captain Roqo’s brother Casso, less-famed but no less capable than his deceased twin served to deliver a stunning victory for the Archon, smashing the Tarth-led Stormlander fleet in the waters of Shipbreaker Bay to facilitate invasion of the isle. With freedom upon the waves, the isle could be overwhelmed from all sides and Evenfall Hall was quickly taken and sacked - its wealth, including the Valyrian steel sword Oathkeeper would be siphoned back to the Daughters over the coming weeks, and just as Planky Town had been before, the Archon now had his staging point for the remainder of his invasion. Many of the previous inhabitants of the isle would remain upon prisoners there for the remainder of the year, for the Archon feared that if he kept all his hostages in one place, another like Ylvar before would conspire to steal them from him, but one notable figure would not be captured in the assault. In Lord Tarth’s absence, for he had commanded the fleet that had risen to defend the isle, he had left Ser Edric Musgood as castellan of the castle. Ser Edric had been slain in the fighting, but managed to cut down some half a dozen Myrish crossbowmen before his eventual demise. One of the crossbow captains had ordered the body to be strung up for use as target practice, before the Archon himself commanded the body be cut down - unlike the Dornish who were treacherous and villainous, he considered the Stormlords to be honourable in their own way. Like all the rest of the dead, Lord Tarth and Ser Edric were buried at sea within the depths of the Straits of Tarth. The Burning of the Rainwood The Archon had learned in Dorne that the momentum of his attack had served to deliver him much of the territory, and now with his strength in position, he was ready to do the same in the Stormlands. At the turn of the moon, the men positioned along the quiet coves and hidden dens of Cape Wrath march forth, catching several lordlings completely unawares. Within a week, the castles of Rainwood, Crow’s Nest, Mistwood, Weeping Town and Moth’s March all fly the colours of the Triarchy in place of their own'. ' Siege of Griffin’s Roost While men marched for Storm’s End and the castles further north, others instead continued down the Boneway, looking to exploit the nature chokepoint of the Red Mountains to catch the Marcher Lords unawares when they tried to return to their homes from the Dornish sands. Others still swarmed the lands between the two major forces, sacking villages, towns and castles alike as they did so. Griffin’s Roost was among the first to fall when the invaders discovered an entranceway hidden within a nearby cove visible only when the tide was out. Following it with torch and sword in hand, the crude-cut stairs carried them within the castle walls, prompting the quick surrender of the castellan Ser Jonos Connington when the attackers stormed into the central courtyard within the walls. With a laugh, Daros the Reaper accepted the surrender before challenging the castellan to a game of drinks in celebration. It is said that Ser Jonos spent much of his time in captivity heavily inebriated on Tyroshi pear brandy for he had grown to love the taste from that night onwards. Siege of Storm’s End As Sunspear had been the prize of Dorne, the Archon knew that the greatest treasure from the castles of the Stormlords would surely be Storm’s End. Placing an army of primarily Myrish soldiers and sellswords around the stronghold to set up camps and outposts, a fleet quickly dispatched the remainder of the Stormlander fleet that had fled the Battle of Rubies as they lingered at the port in the shadow of the keep. Surrounded by crossbowmen by land and warships by sea, the siege of Storm’s End would begin. It would be the longest siege in the entirety of the war. Battle of Hangman’s Hill Returning from their Dornish campaign, the Stormlander army, augmented by Dornish spears returns back through the Boneway and enters the Dornish Marches - the Archon’s next target. Eager not to be caught out by the army that had thwarted his plans at the Tor once more, he had sent an army east to catch the Stormlanders in the Red Mountains, hoping to hold them for long enough to subjugate much of Cape Wrath and the Kingswood region. Instead, guided by their Dornish outriders, the Westerosi force made excellent time and managed to reach Blackhaven before the Archon had even sent forth his strength to meet them. Marching up the Boneway past Summerhall, they came across the outlying forces sent to start a siege at Gallowsgrey, quickly overwhelming the force stationed there. It would be further north still, at the seat of House Buckler that the armies of the Stormlords, Dornish and Archon would finally meet again. Battle at Bronzegate Fresh from victory at Gallowsgrey and the Battle of Hangman’s Hill, Lords Baratheon, Dondarrion, Selmy, Foote, Yronwood and Fowler continued their march along the Boneway, before hearing reports of an army massing at Bronzegate. Lord Selmy is quick to note that if the army was defeated or driven further north, those currently sieging Storm’s End would be all but cut off from their supply lines from the Kingswood and the isle of Tarth, allowing for quick relief of the castle from the beleaguers. Outriding scouts reported an army of some twenty thousand men, split broadly between three parts Free City soldiers for each two parts sellsword. While the recently liberated Lord Trant suggested buying out the sellswords’ contracts to encourage them to turn cloak, his fellow Stormlords were quick to remind him that the Daughters surely have more gold than even the Lannisters of the Rock between them, and the plan was quickly dismissed. Instead a new ploy is devised from the minds of Lord Foote, Dondarrion and Blackmont. Musing that the sellswords would be eager for glory, they seek to strike at the side of the Triarchy camp that seems to have the greatest density of non-sellsword warriors. In doing so, they hope that the disorganised mercenary companies would be quick to break ranks as they try and push through the lines to bloody their steel. Looping round the camp to strike from the east at sunrise with the sun at their backs, they fall upon the Triarchy’s army, dealing a fair number of casualties to the front lines. The folly of the Stormlords was laid days prior, when their scouts neglected to go any further than the army at Bronzegate. If they had continued further north, they would have surely discovered that the seat of House Buckler was not the only castle currently under siege. Fresh from victory at Haystack Hall, another mercenary army, also travelling from the east and thus obscured by the rising morning light instead enacted the very ploy they sought to execute. Trapped between the army stationed at Bronzegate, the walls of the ancient castle and the forces from Haystack Hall, the army of the Stormlords died in their thousands. Among the slain were Lords Blackmont, Foote, Grandison and Selmy, along with countless scions of major and minor noble houses of Dornish and Stormlander residence alike. A King’s Ire (384AC) Clearing the Way After being captured by Lord Royce at Harrenhal, the pretender King Brynden Baelish was executed, allowing King Edmund to finally turn his attention to the invaders that had been ravaging his realm whilst he was dealing with Brynden’s Rebellion. Marching wearily from the Riverlands, his bloodied army came down the Kingsroad mere days after the Battle of Bronzegate and still recovering from the bloody battle, the Triarchy forces were caught off-guard and sent into retreat. Assisted by a fleet stationed in their captured stronghold of Tarth, the Archon and his men were forced to flee from the Westerosi mainland at the arrival of the large Royal army. One by one, the token forces left in the castles and keeps of the Stormlands by the Triarchy fell, and those others under siege are relieved, Storm’s End included. Not wishing to allow the Archon to escape, King Edmund commanded the Royal fleet, augmented by the strength of the Velaryons and Celtigars to cut the invaders off at the Sapphire Isle. Instead they were met by a small fleet captained by Salarazon Saan, buying time for the remaining Triarchy fleet to escape with the Archon’s armies as they returned to the Free Cities again - although this time far richer than when they had sailed hence. Putting up a bold but ultimately futile last stand, Captain Salarazon was captured when his fleet was shattered. King Edmund declared that his life be spared, knowing that the renowned captain would surely be a useful bargaining tool for the lives of the numerous Dornish and Stormlander hostages taken by the Triarchy. Of Love and Loss (384-385AC) The Siege of Myr Once the armies of the Triarchy had been safely returned to the Daughters, the Archon ordered a sizeable portion of the fleet to patrol the Stepstones, shutting the way for all Westerosi vessels. All that attempted to pass were hunted, pillaged and seized by the Triarchy, grinding trade to a halt between the Iron Throne and much of Essos. As the blockade continued on, Lord Staunton and Ser Penrose were taken captive whilst trying to sneak through the blockade aboard a Pentoshi vessel bound for Volantis, their aim being to hire sellsword companies to strike the Triarchy from the east to distract them. As was the case with the other hostages taken, they would spend the remainder of the war in Lys, treated as restricted guests rather than true prisoners. With his coffers drying and the Seven Kingdoms still licking its wounds dealt at the hand of the Triarchy and the traitorous pretender King Brynden, King Edmund declared an invasion of Myr. From north-west to south-east, all within Westeros heard the call, and so began the assembly of a great fleet from all the noble houses of Westeros, which Edmund hoped would match the naval strength of the Triarchy. With much of the Archon’s fleet within the Stepstones as part of the blockade, the united Westerosi fleet and army was able to steal into the Sea of Myrth largely unopposed. Siege lines were hastily drawn up, and construction of the weapons of war began. However, as the days passed, Westerosi spymasters infiltrated into the city and informed King Edmund and the Princes Petyr and Tristan that the Myrish army within the city was far larger than their own strength and sought to ride out with haste to send them into flight. In response, Prince Tristan proposed a scheme to goad the Myrish into a premature strike, before their legions were truly recovered from their time on the Westerosi mainland. By day’s end, the majority of the Westerosi force had marched north, sending further outriders to raid Anlos at nightfall. Prince Petyr, despite Tristan’s protests, volunteered to command the army remaining at Myr to ensure that the illusion of the siege remained a realistic, albeit temptingly weak target. The Myrish saw the opportunity presented to them, and rode out in spite of the Archon’s commands to wait for naval reinforcements. Although they did not ride with their full strength, the Myrish slaughtered the army including the Crown Prince down to the last man before Prince Tristan could ride out from the hills to deliver an overall Westerosi victory. After rushing to close the gates of the city, the siege of Myr continued, albeit with the number of defenders within the city greatly depleted. It was the Westerosi that were first to break however, when rumours started to spread that Prince Tristan deliberately placed the Crown Prince in danger, in the hope of advancing his own position upon the throne. Around camp-fires and cook-pots within sight of the walls of Myr, upon the very battlefield where he fell, the nature of Prince Petyr’s demise was hotly debated with words and steel alike. When King Edmund heard of the rumours, knowing that Prince Petyr was now lost to him, he stripped Prince Tristan of his inheritance and exiled him to remain in Essos when the war effort came to an end. Prince Tristan’s exile would start sooner than either of them had surely foreseen. A Triarchy Reunited Those few messengers that had escaped Myr upon the approach of the Westerosi had carried the news to Tyrosh and Lys with haste, prompting the Archon’s men to sail through the Stepstones. As the small fleets dotted throughout the isles set there to blockade regrouped, the strength of the Triarchy upon the waves once again sailed in unison, and so the Westerosi fleet within the Sea of Myrth was cut off from their escape into the Narrow Sea. Once again the dominant force on the water, the Archon could deliver armies to the port-towns of Anlos and Pelosse, as well as another that had landed at Liy and marched up through the Disputed Lands. Having lost two sons - one to war, and another to exile, King Edmund agreed to surrender in later moons of 385AC when he and his men found themselves surrounded on all sides without any means of escape. Signing of the Pact The Archon bid King Edmund to ride with him, an offer that the King knew he could not truly refuse. The pace unrelenting, within a few days they had arrived at the Tree of Crowns, a site infamous for being the location where the Ninepenny Kings were formally created. Why the Archon chose the site remains unknown to all but him, but nonetheless it was the place were the terms were laid down and defeated, Edmund would agree to them. The Stepstones would remain Triarchy territory for as long as the Triarchy existed, and Westerosi vessels would pay taxes to pass through them, “as a contribution to the cost to guard against piracy prone to spring up amongst the isles.” The Triarchy would also receive favoured trade rights with the Iron Throne in perpetuity over the other Free Cities and reduced tariffs and import taxes for vessels calling port at the major cities of Westeros compared to their competitors. In exchange, the hostages claimed would be returned, along with the Valyrian steel sword Oathkeeper of House Tarth. Although Edmund signed the page in fine Tyroshi ink, it is oft lamented he paid for it in his own blood for the cost to Westeros since. The first test to the strength of the Pact would come mere weeks later. Instead of returning to their home ports, a few ironborn longships instead sought to colonise the isle of Scarwood, finding a home in the ruined fort at the centre of the isle. An envoy was sent to King’s Landing to remind King Edmund that it was Westerosi colonisation of the Stepstones that sparked the initial bloodshed by means of a chest filled with blood-red sand, a warning that the King heeded well and quickly. The Iron Throne was forced to respond, and at his liege’s command, the Master of Ships sent ships to Scarwood, removing the ironborn presence within the moon. No other threats to the sanctity of the Pact have occurred since. Category:Dorne Category:Triarchy of the Three Daughters Category:Essos Category:Tyrosh Category:Myr Category:Lys Category:Archon Category:War Category:Dornish-Triarchy War